As conservatives, let’s stop lying to one another

The first step to solving a problem is being brutally honest. We can’t become like “Baghdad Bob liberals” and ignore the problems within our comatose movement and pathetic congressional leadership. Nor can we ignore the problems with Trump himself, even as we praise the good aspects of his first month in office.

In this episode of The Conservative Conscience, Daniel goes through some observations of this past week — including CPAC — to demonstrate why too many conservatives have their heads in the sand about some of the challenges we face.

We are no longer on the campaign trail. Republicans have control of all branches of government, and although we know many of them (especially in the Senate) are not conservative, that point is lost on the average voter. Voters will blame all conservatives for the ineptitude of Republicans if they fail to enact a relentlessly positive agenda. Railing against the media is therapeutic for many of us, but if that’s all we have to offer, we are headed for a disaster.

It’s time for an honest discussion about the future of what this party stands for. We must formulate a hard-hitting agenda (many ideas have already been put forth here at CR), speak to the morality of our views, and channel our passion and outrage to issues of substance in a consistent and intelligent way. Once we do that, it will be much easier to fight the media on our terms rather than on theirs.

Toward the end, Daniel gives Trump some advice for his upcoming address to Congress and how he should present his immigration and health care policies in a way that will place Democrats on defense. Rather than have a false debate between progressive nationalism and failed tepid republicanism, why not actually try real constitutional conservatism for once?

The notion that conservatism is dead and in need of reform is built upon a false premise because we have never tried real conservatism in the modern era with the existing challenges confronting this country. We need a new movement, not new principles. It’s time to build a new movement built upon timeless principles.